WHAT  I  BELIEVE 


AND 


WHY  I  BELIEVE  IT 


REYNOLD  E.  BLIGHT 

MINISTER,  THE  Los  ANGELES  FELLOWSHIP 


PUBLISHED   BY 

THE  LOS  ANGELES  FELLOWSHIP 
Los  ANGELES,  CALIFORNIA 


GLASS  BOOK  BINDING  Co. 
Los  ANGELES 


INDEX 

Page 

FOREWORD                                            -  5 

RELIGION                             ...  7 

GOD                      12 

THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE       -       -       -       -  19 

THE  BIBLE 25 

PRAYER              -              ...  31 

JESUS  CHRIST  36 

HELL  AND  HEAVEN               -              -  41 

IMMORTALITY    -              ...  45 

THE  DEVIL               51 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  EVIL               -       -  54 

THE  CHURCH 60 


766? 


COPYRIGHT  1913,  BY 
REYNOLD  E.  BLIGHT 


FOREWORD 

The  following  chapters  contain  the  substance 
of  a  series  of  addresses  in  Blanchard  Hall,  Los 
Angeles,  California,  on  **What  I  Believe  and 
Why  I  Believe  It,*'  and  are  published  at  the 
urgent  request  of  many  who  heard  them  deliv- 
ered and  desired  to  retain  the  talks  in  perma- 
nent form. 

The  purpose  of  the  addresses  was  to  discuss 
some  of  the  problems  of  personal  life  and  be- 
lief in  a  simple,  popular,  practical  and  con- 
structive way.  The  usual  religious  phraseology 
was  avoided  so  far  as  possible  and  the  effort 
was  made  to  speak  the  highest  religious  experi- 
ences in  the  language  of  the  street  and  home. 

No  attempt  was  made  to  formulate  doctrines. 
Spiritual  truth  is  apprehended  not  by  elaborat- 
ing theologies  but  in  living. 

At  the  same  time  due  respect  was  paid  to 
the  religious  convictions  of  all  men.  There  are 
great  fundamental  truths  that  all  devout  men, 
of  whatever  race  or  creed,  believe  in,  and  these 
are  the  truths  that  are  sought  and  emphasized. 
Stick  to  the  fundamentals  and  you  will  not 
quarrel  with  anyone. 

There  was  no  desire  to  preach  a  new  gospel, 


declare  a  new  philosophy,  or  propagate  new 
theories.  In  fact,  the  purpose  of  the  addresses 
was  not  so  much  to  inform  the  minds  of  the 
hearers  as  to  clarify  their  ideals,  quicken  their 
moral  life  and  inspire  their  spiritual  aspirations. 

One  word  of  explanation  concerning  the 
speaker  may  be  permitted.  He  is  not  a  minis- 
ter in  a  professional  sense.  As  a  certified 
public  accountant  he  has  a  part  in  the  busy 
world  of  affairs  and  steps  to  his  Sunday  plat- 
form, not  from  study  and  ministerial  confer- 
ence, but  from  counting  room  and  business  of- 
fice. He  knows  at  first  hand  the  temptations, 
doubts,  discouragements  and  weaknesses  of  the 
man  in  the  street  and  his  addresses  are  wrought 
out  in  the  hot  fires  of  commercial  struggle  and 
business  rivalries.  This  fact  may  account  for 
his  slight  regard  for  speculation  and  theology, 
and  his  emphasis  upon  the  practical  phases  of 
religious  life  and  belief. 

The  Los  Angeles  Fellowship,  under  whose 
auspices  the  addresses  were  given,  is  an  asso- 
ciation, so  its  constitution  declares,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  encouraging  trustful  and  unselfish  liv- 
ing. And  this  is  the  only  creed  to  which  its 
members  are  asked  to  subscribe. 


RELIGION! 


There  is  possible  a  sta  tement  of  raligipn  .that 
makes  all  skepticism   absurd*  •»  'StatfjiTrte^it  *pf; 
religion  at  once  vital,  practical,  inspiring,  satis- 
fying both  mind  and  soul. 

Such  a  statement  of  religion  must  be  self- 
evident.  A  doctrine  that  is  established  only 
by  subtle  argument  and  the  straining  of  logic 
is  by  that  necessity  discredited.  A  dogma 
that  must  be  defended  with  bitterness  and 
anger  is  manifestly  false.  The  creeds  that 
divide  mankind  into  warring  armies  are  by  that 
fact  impeached.  True  religion  should  be  one 
with  the  growing  corn  and  the  law  of  gravita- 
tion. It  should  be  as  axiomatic  as  the  sunshine 
and  compel  the  hearts  and  minds  of  men  as 
irresistibly  as  the  dawn. 

The  appeal  of  religion  must  be  made  to  the 
reason  as  well  as  to  the  emotions.  Why  should 
we  be  called  upon  to  do  violence  to  our  com- 
mon sense  and  be  compelled  to  give  profession 
to  dogmas  which  our  own  best  knowledge  de- 
clares to  be  false?  Why  can  we  not  worship 
God  and  yet  retain  our  intellectual  self-respect? 
A  real  religion  will  bring  us  intellectual  peace 
as  well  as  spiritual  illumination  and  serenity. 


The  lofty  skyscrapers  of  New  York,  tower- 
ing thirty  and  forty  stories  into  the  air,  stand 
secure  because  their  foundations  rest  upon  the 
rocky  backbone  of.  the  world.  There  are  fun- 
damental ti^ftho-cfoihrnon  to  all  religions,  taught 
by  every  great  teach-fir  from  Krishna  and  Christ 
to  'Ersitfrson;  that*  freed  but  to  be  stated  to  win 
universal  acceptance.  Upon  these  profound 
yet  simple  principles  all  true  religious  experi- 
ence must  rest  finally. 

Men  have  fought  bloody  battles  over  doc- 
trines, interpretations  of  scripture  and  ecclesi- 
astical rituals.  The  thumbscrew  and  the  rack, 
dungeons  and  the  stake,  have  been  invoked  to 
establish  a  dogma.  The  propaganda  of  the 
creeds  has  filled  the  earth  with  slaughter  and 
smeared  with  blood  the  pages  of  history.  Yet 
no  one  ever  went  to  war  over  the  twenty-third 
Psalm  or  sprang  at  his  brother's  throat  in  de- 
fense of  Paul's  great  hymn  of  love,  the  thir- 
teenth chapter  first  Corinthians.  The  craziest 
religionist  in  the  hour  of  his  wildest  delirium 
never  dreamed  of  trying  to  demonstrate  by 
torture  the  principles  of  the  sermon  on  the 
mount,  or  thought  to  enforce  the  golden  rule 
by  the  police  power  of  the  state.  Why?  Be- 
cause doctrines,  creeds  and  formulas  are  the 
aber-glaube  about  which  men  differ,  argue  and 
fight.  The  divine  words  of  divine  men  con- 
vince by  reason  of  their  inherent  reasonable- 


ness;  they  convict  the  mind  and  melt  the  heart. 
They  are  elemental,  fundamental,  essential. 

These  great  truths  are  not  discovered  by 
argument ;  they  are  spiritually  discerned.  They 
are  not  known  by  the  dialetics  of  the  school- 
men, but  are  wrought  out  in  the  fires  of  every 
day  experience.  They  can  never  be  embodied 
in  creeds,  they  must  be  apprehended  by  the 
deep  intuitions  of  the  soul,  confirmed  by  reason 
and  made  real  in  life. 

Religion  is  not  primarily  a  matter  of  logic 
and  philosophy.  It  is  a  matter  of  life.  The 
twentieth  century  will  prove  itself  the  most  re- 
ligious age  in  history  because  it  is  pre-eminently 
practical.  It  cares  little  for  speculation  and 
theory,  be  the  syllogism  never  so  subtle  and 
the  casuistry  never  so  clever.  It  demands  that 
religion  and  religious  belief  shall  be  tested  in 
the  same  way  that  scientific  theories  and  in- 
ventions are  tried, — in  the  busy,  commonplace, 
workaday  world.  It  rudely  interrupts  the  dig- 
nified preacher-essayist  in  his  velvet-covered 
pulpit  with  the  challenge,  "How  much  is  your 
religion  worth  measured  in  terms  of  life?" 
And  although  the  rough  interruption  jars  the 
stained-glass  windows,  interferes  with  the  of- 
fertory, and  sometimes  sends  the  frightened 
congregation  hurrying  from  the  church,  leaving 
the  preacher  to  dream  and  drone  to  empty 
pews,  the  challenge  is  fully  justified. 


Says  the  twentieth  century: 

Your  doctrines  are  pernicious  if  they  make 
men  hard,  intolerant  and  cruel. 

Your  dogmas  are  vicious  if  they  cloud  the 
faces  of  gentle  women  and  fill  with  fear  the 
hearts  of  little  children. 

Your  creeds  do  the  devil's  work  if  they  fetter 
the  mind  and  weigh  down  the  wings  of  the 
human  spirit. 

Your  beliefs  must  go  to  the  scrap  heap  if 
they  do  not  harmonize  with  God's  truth  as  re- 
vealed in  star,  and  bird,  and  flower,  and  if  they 
contradict  the  mighty  facts  of  life  and  love  writ 
large  on  the  pages  of  the  rocks,  each  page  the 
story  of  a  thousand  years. 

Your  religion  is  unworthy  unless  it  is  just 
as  usable  in  the  home,  in  the  office,  at  the 
workbench  and  on  the  street  as  in  the  prayer- 
meeting;  unless  it  makes  a  man  strong,  clean, 
noble,  sympathetic,  helpful  in  all  relations  of 
life. 

The  frank  agnostic  who  loves  his  fellow-man 
is  more  certainly  religious  than  the  most  devout 
professor  of  religion  who  is  mean,  selfish  and 
dishonest. 

Your  religion  must  be  big  enough  to  cover 
the  hours  of  temptation,  failure,  bereavement 
and  discouragement,  otherwise  it  is  a  delusion. 

If  your  religion  is  worth  while  it  will  bring 
life  more  abundant,  adding  to  your  joy,  bring- 

10 


ing  courage,  hope,  strength,  and  spiritual  illumi- 
nation, inspiring  to  noble  endeavor  and  moral 
achievement,  and  filling  you  with  a  divine  en- 
thusiasm to  help  your  fellows.  If  your  reli- 
gious experience  answers  to  this  test  the 
theology  you  hold  and  your  church  affiliations 
are  of  no  importance.  Your  life  is  founded  on 
a  rock.  No  matter  how  widely  you  differ  from 
your  neighbors  in  matters  of  doctrine,  it  will 
be  found  that  you  all  agree  in  your  belief  in 
and  loyalty  to  the  self-evident  moral  princi- 
ples proclaimed  by  all  the  great  souls  of  the 
race. 

The  prophet  was  right  when  he  declared  "He 
hath  showed  thee,  O  man,  what  is  good,  and 
what  doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee  but  to  do 
justly  and  to  love  mercy  and  to  walk  humbly 
with  thy  God/* 

The  apostle  was  right  when  he  said  "pure 
religion  and  undefiled  is  this,  to  visit  the  father- 
less and  widows  in  their  affliction  and  to  keep 
himself  unspotted  from  the  world." 

The  Master  himself  spoke  the  greatest  word 
of  all,  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  all  thy  heart,  mind,  soul,  and  strength 
and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  This  is  the  law 
and  the  prophets." 


11 


GOD 

"The  soul  was  made  for  God  and  cannot 
rest  until  it  Ends  rest  in  him,"  declared 
Augustine. 

But  the  present  generation  has  lost  conscious- 
ness of  the  presence  of  God.  The  scientific 
knowledge  of  this  latter  day  has  so  changed 
our  understanding  of  the  universe  that  the 
anthropomorphic  conception  of  God,  held  by 
our  fathers,  is  no  longer  tenable.  We  have 
not  yet  adjusted  our  religious  ideas  to  our  new 
knowledge.  Many  of  us  feel  as  did  the  ignor- 
ant monk  whose  companions  had  shown  him 
the  grotesqueness  of  his  thought  of  God  as  a 
magnified  man,  who  when  he  sought  to  pray, 
burst  into  tears  and  cried,  "You  have  taken 
away  my  God/*  We  find  ourselves  orphaned, 
bereft,  bewildered  and  alone.  We  lift  the  cry 
of  Job,  "O  that  I  knew  where  I  might  find 
him." 

We  have  hypnotized  ourselves  with  such 
words  as  science,  inexorable  law,  evolution,  the 
unknowable  God,  cause  and  effect,  the  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest  and  other  catch-words  of 
modern  knowledge  until  we  have  frozen  all 
the  poetry  in  our  minds,  quenched  the  sym- 

12 


pathy  in  our  hearts  and  killed  the  faith  in  our 
souls. 

The  truth  is,  God  is  speaking  to  men  today 
with  greater  clearness  and  force  than  at  any 
other  time  in  the  world's  history.  The  newer 
knowledge  has  rent  the  veil  and  revealed  the 
holy  of  holies.  In  the  light  of  modern  science 
the  devout  soul  sees  every  bush  aflame  with 
the  Divine  Presence  and  God  himself  shines 
forth  from  every  blade  of  grass  and  utters  him- 
self in  music  in  the  song  of  birds.  Every  event, 
every  experience  proclaims  the  presence  of 
Deity. 

Our  fathers  lived  in  a  world  of  mystery, 
wonder  and  miracle.  We  look  out  upon  a 
world  much  more  wonderful,  but  with  less 
mystery  and  no  miracle.  Science  has  demon- 
strated two  mightily  significant  facts,  law  and 
progress.  Upon  these  fundamental  truths  all 
scientists  agree. 

Under  the  control  of  soft-binding  but  immu- 
table law  the  mighty  planet  plunges  through 
space,  the  delicate  orchid  shudders  in  the  shade, 
the  gnat  dances  in  the  summer  twilight  and 
the  earthquake  shakes  cities  into  ruin.  The 
universe  is  a  stupendous  clock  going  so  accu- 
rately that  the  return  of  a  comet  or  the  coming 
of  an  eclipse  may  be  foretold  to  an  hour.  There 
is  no  chance,  whim  or  caprice  discernible 
anywhere. 

13 


Science  has  discovered  something  besides 
law  and  that  is  progress,  evolution.  From  the 
simple  to  the  complex,  from  the  lower  to  the 
higher,  from  instinct  to  reason,  from  uncon- 
sciousness to  consciousness,  from  the  beast  to 
the  Christ,  life  has  unfolded,  by  gradual  but 
certain  development. 

"Every  clod  feels  a  stir  of  might, 

An  instinct  within  it  that  reaches  and 

towers, 

And,  groping  blindly  above  it  for  light, 
Climbs  to  a  soul  in  grass  and  flowers." 

Or  as  Emerson  has  well  put  it: 

"Striving  to  be  man,  the  worm 
Mounts  through  all  the  spires  of  form." 

In  view  of  these  scientifically  demonstrated 
truths  are  we  not  justified  in  going  one  step 
farther  and  declaring  that  this  universe  dem- 
onstrates purpose,  and  purpose  intelligence? 

In  fact,  the  greatest  scientists  not  only  admit 
it  but  proclaim  it. 

Says  Herbert  Spencer,  "One  truth  must  ever 
grow  clearer  and  clearer,  the  truth  that  there 
is  an  Inscrutable  Existence  manifested  every- 
where." 

Alfred  Russel  Wallace  in  a  recent  magazine 
article  declared,  "The  great  facts  of  nature, 
viewed  in  their  entirety,  compel  us  to  recog- 
nize a  power  and  a  purpose  in  the  vast  world 

14 


of  life,  that  the  organic  forces  and  laws  are 
its  manifestations,  and  that  without  this  con- 
ception of  purpose  and  foreseen  result  the 
whole  cosmic  process  becomes  unmeaning  and 
unintelligible." 

Romanes  has  also  said,  "Tap  nature  any- 
where and  it  seems  to  flow  with  purpose.'* 

Thus  by  scientific  paths  we  get  pretty  close 
to  a  demonstration  of  Pope's  poetic  concep- 
tion that: 

"All  are  but  parts  of  one  stupendous  whole, 
Whose  body  nature  is  and  God  the  soul." 

God  the  soul!  Instantly  we  are  back  by 
that  wellside  in  Samaria  listening  to  that  re- 
markable conversation  between  Jesus  and  the 
woman,  and  we  hear  again  those  marvelous 
words  of  insight, — the  highest,  clearest,  most 
comprehensive  definition  of  God  even  given, — 
"God  is  spirit." 

The  wonderful,  various,  complex,  develop- 
ing universe  is  the  material  manifestation  of 
God.  The  crowded,  intricate,  mysterious 
energy  filling  earth,  sea  and  sky,  and  weaving 
a  changeful  web  of  life  and  death  in  the  roaring 
loom  of  time  is  the  breathing  forth  of  God. 
The  subtle  and  vital  laws,  softer  than  gossa- 
mer, stronger  than  steel  cables,  that  bind 
Orion  and  the  violet  are  the  methods  of  God. 
This  evolving  purpose  is  the  will  of  God.  He 
pervades  and  transcends  this  universe  we  see 
and  know. 

15 


There  is  grave  danger  that  in  our  philosophiz- 
ing our  idea  of  God  may  become  so  vague,  so 
attenuated,  that  we  lose  consciousness  of  our 
vital  relationship  to  him.  In  our  protest  against 
the  crude,  outgrown  ideas  of  God  there  is  a 
perilous  tendency  to  swing  to  the  other  ex- 
treme and  lose  our  grasp  on  Reality  in  a  gen- 
eral diffusiveness.  Can  a  man  enter  into  con- 
scious, vital  relationship  with  him?  That  is  the 
important  question. 

Consciousness  in  man  is  the  highest  product 
of  evolution.  The  hours  that  I  recognize  as 
my  best  must  be  my  nearest  approach  to  this 
animating  principle  of  the  universe.  Then  it 
follows  that  I  most  nearly  touch  God  and  know 
him  in  the  best  I  can  think,  or  dream,  or 
aspire  to. 

What  is  the  best  I  can  think,  dream,  or  aspire 
to?  Goodness,  mercy,  truth,  self-sacrifice, 
justice,  purity,  peace,  beauty,  love,  right- 
eousness! 

These  are  not  mere  abstractions,  they  are 
qualities  of  character,  the  most  real  things  in 
human  life,  or  within  human  ken. 

I  recognize  them  as  supremely  excellent. 

I  can  understand  these  qualities  only  as  they 
exist  in  me. 

I  know  them  as  my  best  self.  I  live  most 
supremely  and  satisfactorily  when  I  let  these 
qualities  dominate  my  thought,  control  my  de- 
sires and  determine  my  actions. 

16 


As  I  increasingly  consecrate  myself  to  show 
forth  these  qualities  I  become  conscious  that  I 
do  not  create  them,  I  simply  allow  them 
to  flow  through  me.  They  are  energy,  power, 
virtue. 

I  know  them  as  manifestations  of  that  Divine 
Power  that  in  nature  makes  for  order,  purpose, 
development,  and  in  me  makes  for  right- 
eousness. 

Thus  by  living,  I  come  to  know  that  I  am  the 
offspring  of  that  Power,  that  I  hold  an  instant 
relationship  to  him,  that  I  have  no  life  apart 
from  him,  that  in  fact,  in  him  I  live  and  move 
and  have  my  being. 

I  come  at  length  to  understand  what  Jesus 
meant  when  he  said,  "My  Father, "  and  "I  and 
my  Father  are  one/*  I  come  into  an  experi- 
ence that  can  not  be  defined  or  accurately  de- 
scribed. It  is  peace  and  joy,  illumination  and 
inspiration.  It  can  be  known  only  by  experi- 
ence; an  experience  wherein  I  know  God. 

In  dismay  you  ask,  Do  you  believe  in  a  per- 
sonal God?  Yes,  most  assuredly,  just  as  cer- 
tainly as  I  believe  he  is  in  star  and  rose  and 
the  purple  lights  of  the  mountain.  But  he  as 
far  transcends  personality  as  he  transcends  star 
and  rose.  He  includes  all.  Don't  distress  your- 
self about  the  personality  of  God.  Says  Em- 
erson, "when  the  devout  motions  of  the  soul 
come,  yield  to  them  heart  and  life,  though  they 

17 


should  clothe  God  with  shape  and  color." 
Yield  and  you  shall  be  led  on  to  the  deeper 
truth,  the  clearer  apprehension. 

I  am  not  anxious  that  you  should  profess  "I 
believe  in  God.**  I  desire  that  you  should  say, 
in  sincerity  and  earnestness,  in  the  words  of  a 
great  scientist,  **I  believe  in  goodness  and  will 
so  order  my  life,'*  because  this  consecration  is 
the  first  step  on  the  path  that  leads  to  the  rich- 
est, sweetest,  only  truly  satisfying  experience 
possible  to  man, — fellowship  with  God. 


18 


THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

When  a  man  earnestly  and  devoutly  resolves 
to  believe  in  goodness  and  to  so  order  his  life 
he  rises  to  live  a  new  life.  He  assumes  new 
standards  by  which  to  judge  his  actions,  new 
ideals  by  which  to  test  his  motives,  a  new  pur- 
pose by  which  to  direct  his  life. 

He  soon  comes  to  know  that  he  is  a  spiritual 
man  living  in  a  spiritual  universe.  This  great 
truth  may  not  be  fully  disclosed  at  once.  Its 
perception  may  be  a  slow  and  gradual  process, 
but  it  surely  reveals  itself.  Just  as  a  child 
merging  into  boyhood  becomes  self-conscious, 
so  the  man  passing  into  this  new  life  domi- 
nated by  goodness  becomes  spiritually  con- 
scious, or  enters  into  the  experience  of  Self- 
realization. 

The  former  life  of  eating  and  drinking,  of 
easy  comforts,  commonplace  habits,  sensual 
gratifications,  routine  work;  of  narrowness, 
prejudice,  sickness,  sin;  of  selfishness  and  trivi- 
ality; is  only  a  dream  life,  unreal  and  un- 
worthy. Even  the  intellectual  attainments  are 
by  comparison  of  minor  worth.  Under  the  illu- 
mination of  the  goodness  to  which  he  has  con- 
secrated himself  he  learns  that  he  is  not  merely 

19 


a  body  to  be  fed,  clothed  and  indulged,  that 
he  is  not  merely  a  mind  to  be  educated  and 
developed,  he  discovers  that  he  is  spirit,  that 
in  a  real  though  subtle  way  he  and  the  good- 
ness are  one. 

At  first  dimly  perceived,  the  identification 
becomes  gradually  more  apparent.  The  deep- 
est joy  of  his  life  comes  as  he  discovers  that 
as  he  yields  himself  to  live  according  to  these 
noble  and  unselfish  impulses  he  becomes  more 
and  more  conscious  of  this  inner  life,  that  ex- 
presses itself  through  him  in  virtue,  beauty  and 
blessing.  He  becomes  conscious  of  the  divinity 
of  his  being. 

The  effect  of  this  increasing  realization  is 
revolutionary.  He  becomes  a  new  creature. 
Old  things  do  indeed  pass  away,  all  things  be- 
come new.  Old  ambitions,  habits,  ideals, 
hopes,  dreams,  all  expressed  in  terms  of  selfish- 
ness and  limitation,  give  place  to  aspirations, 
purposes,  ideals,  that  are  unselfish,  that  seek 
universal  ends,  that  make  him  the  clear  channel 
for  the  manifestation  of  the  divine  life  within. 

Goodness,  mercy,  sympathy,  tolerance, 
beauty,  sincerity,  love,  pour  themselves  a  re- 
sistless tide  of  energy  through  his  thoughts, 
looks,  words,  and  deeds,  vitalizing  his  deepest 
being,  and  becoming  a  moral  dynamic  as  it 
touches  other  lives.  If  he  be  an  orator  his 
speech  vibrates  with  compelling  power.  If  he 

20 


be  a  writer  his  pen  flashes  with  an  electric  spark. 
If  he  be  a  politician  his  policies  take  on  a  states- 
manlike sweep.  If  he  be  a  teacher  his  instruc- 
tion pulsates  with  a  quickening  life  that  is  more 
effective  than  the  teaching  of  his  textbooks.  If 
he  be  a  merchant  his  cheapest  clerk  and  his 
most  distant  customer  feels  the  vibration  of  his 
awakened  soul.  If  his  work  be  common  and 
routine,  it  takes  on  a  deep  significance  even 
though  it  be  understood  only  by  his  own  soul. 
This  is  the  spiritual  life.  It  is  spiritual  truth 
realized  in  everyday  experience. 

The  spiritual  life  is  not  simply  meditation, 
prayer  and  philanthropy.  It  is  a  spirit  that  ex- 
presses itself  most  fully  in  the  commonplace 
duties  of  the  daily  work,  teaching  the  children, 
keeping  books,  running  street  cars,  sweeping 
the  streets,  selling  goods,  washing  dishes,  enter- 
taining friends,  working  at  a  bench. 

The  spiritual  life  is  not  a  life  of  stress  and 
strain,  conflicts  with  evil,  battles  with  tempta- 
tion, struggles  with  bad  habits.  It  is  rather  a 
life  of  relaxation.  The  new  affections  drive  out 
the  old  loves.  The  more  splendid  ideals  de- 
stroy the  old  ambitions.  The  new  power  pos- 
sesses the  soul  and  leaves  no  room  for  evil 
thoughts  and  desires  that  formerly  plagued  him. 

The  spiritual  life  is  not  a  smug  Phariseeism, 
a  thanking  of  God  that  he  is  not  as  other  men, 
a  holier  than  thou  attitude.  Self-righteousness 

21 


is  repugnant  to  the  gentle  sincerity  and  child- 
like simplicity  that  characterizes  the  truly 
spiritual  man. 

Nor  is  the  spiritual  life  an  austere  Puritanism. 
The  glorious  qualities  of  goodness  enrich  life  in 
a  thousand  ways.  The  splendor  and  sparkling 
gaiety  of  nature  reflect  the  glory  of  the  illu- 
mined soul,  a  glory  that  must  shine  in  acts  and 
words  of  love  and  tenderness.  Austerity, 
gloom  and  bigotry  are  the  farthest  removed 
from  a  truly  spiritual  life. 

While  thus  the  revolution  is  being  accom- 
plished within,  a  new  world  is  being  created 
without,  rather  he  views  the  universe  through 
enlightened  eyes.  The  universe  that  reveals  it- 
self to  the  scientist  as  orderly,  reasonable,  pur- 
poseful, discloses  itself  to  the  awakened  spirit 
as  the  creation  of  an  All-wise,  All-powerful, 
All-good  Power.  To  the  scientist,  there  is  no 
vacuum,  no  miracle  or  caprice,  no  break  in  the 
eternal  laws.  To  the  spiritual  man  there  is  no 
evil,  no  discord,  anywhere.  His  eye  perceives 
the  all  pervading  beauty.  His  ear  is  attuned 
to  the  universal  music.  He  knows  that: 

*'In  the  mud  and  scum  of  things 
There  alway,   alway  something  sings." 

The  material  world  loses  its  substantiality 
in  the  realization  of.  spirit,  and  the  testimony 
of  the  senses  is  corrected  by  the  apprehension 
of  spiritual  truth.  Trie  order  of  the  world  is 

22 


assurance  that  all  the  universe  with  triumphant 
march  moves  toward  a  "far-off,  divine  event." 
He  sets  himself  therefore  to  co-operate  with  that 
immanent  Power,  intelligently  and  consistently. 
He  subordinates  self  to  the  universal  purpose. 
Finding  that  the  goodness  within  responds  to 
the  goodness  found  without,  and  learning  there- 
by that  the  purpose  of  his  life  and  the  world- 
life  is  to  fully  express  that  interior  goodness,  he 
surrenders  himself  with  renewed  consecration 
to  express  that  goodness  in  every  moment  of 
life.  Thus  he  learns  to  co-operate  with  the 
evolutionary  purpose.  He  becomes  a  creator. 

The  result  in  his  life  is  two-fold. 

He  is  emancipated  from  the  thralldom  of 
sense,  he  is  freed  from  the  slavery  of  sin,  fear, 
ignorance  and  sickness.  He  becomes  a  master 
of  life.  The  world  becomes  plastic  to  his 
touch.  The  limitations  that  fretted  him  become 
wings  to  lift  him  heavenward.  The  mesmerism 
of  the  ms*f»al  world  falls  from  him  like  a  bad 
dream  and^he  awakens  to  the  consciousness  of 
his  own  divinity  and  spiritual  power.  He  has 
learned  the  open  sesame  that  opens  the  treasure 
house  of  God.  He  has  been  given  the  word  of 
the  master  that  only  the  masters  may  know. 
His  experience  cannot  be  described  because  it 
transcends  language.  It  is  peace,  serenity, 
power,  victory,  Self-realization. 

He  comes  to  know  God.  That  goodness  to 
23 


which  he  consecrated  himself,  that  becomes  a 
creative  power  within  him,  that  flows  in  beauty 
through  his  life,  is  not  some  blind,  vague,  im- 
palpable force  like  magnetism,  or  gravitation, 
or  electricity.  It  is  vital,  life  itself.  It  is  God. 
He  enters  into  communion.  He  enjoys  a  tender 
filial  relationship.  He  experiences  companion- 
ship with  God.  Here  again  language  fails. 
The  boor  cannot  know  the  inspiration  of  the 
artist,  the  coward  cannot  understand  the  hero, 
the  sensualist  cannot  appreciate  pure  love, 
neither  can  the  carnal  mind  understand  the 
spiritual  life.  It  must  be  experienced  to  be 
understood. 


24 


THE  BIBLE 

The  Bible  has  been  a  battleground  for  twen- 
ty centuries  and  the  fact  that  this  library  of 
wonderful  bcfoks  has  survived  the  shock  of  the 
conflict  is  conclusive  proof  of  its  intrinsic  worth. 

In  the^early  Christian  centuries  it  was  the 
object  of  attack  by  the  pagan  philosophers  and 
dialecticians  and  the  attacks  of  modern  atheists 
are  peurile  as  compared  with  the  brilliant  on- 
slaughts of  the  Roman  Celsus. 

For  fifteen  centuries  the  schoolmen  made 
the  Bible  an  arsenal  and  armory  and  from  its 
texts  weapons  were  formed  and  ammunition 
wrought  to  defend  orthodoxy  and  put  down 
heresy.  The  heretics  returned  the  compliment 
and  met  text  with  text,  scriptural  argument 
with  scriptural  argument.  This  kind  of  warfare 
was  indulged  in  even  down  to  the  last  cen- 
tury and  many  people  remember  the  old  fash- 
ioned doctrinal  debates  when  the  debaters 
tried  to  down  each  other  by  marshalling  * 'proof 
texts*';  and  very  ingenious  some  of  the  inter- 
pretations were,  too. 

More  recently  the  so-called  "higher  critics'* 
have  had  their  innings,  and  every  verse  and 
word  has  been  subjected  to  the  closest  scrutiny. 

25 


Once  more  the  valiant  defenders  of  the  faith, 
the  believers  in  the  inerrantcy  of  the  scriptures, 
fought  earnestly  over  its  pages. 

The  Bible  has  been  made  to  defend  nearly 
every  sin  and  crime  the  race  has  known.  The 
divine  right  of  kings,  slavery,  human  sacri- 
fice, polygamy,  intemperance,  war,  idolatry, 
ecclesiastical  despotism,  inquisitorial  cruelty, 
and  every  other  wrong  and  vice  has  been  up- 
held by  texts  drawn  from  the  scriptures. 

No  other  book  has  been  so  abused,  mis- 
represented and  maligned. 

But  in  spite  of  overzealous  friend,  aggres- 
sive foe,  unscrupulous  partisan  and  cruel 
bigot  the  Bible  has  endured  and  today  holds 
a  higher  place  in  the  hearts  and  minds  of 
thinking  people  than  ever  before. 

To  determine  the  rightful  place  of  the  Bible 
in  the  life  and  thought  of  the  modern  man  it  is 
necessary  to  know  just  what  the  Bible  is. 

The  Bible  is  a  library  of  national  literature, 
covering  a  period  of  over  two  thousand  years, 
and  includes  history,  poetry,  drama,  aphor- 
isms, churchly  polity  and  ritual,  legislative  en- 
actments, and  sermons.  Its  authors  were 
kings  and  peasants,  merchants  and  priests, 
statesmen  and  literary  men. 

What  gives  it  its  unique  religious  value? 
It  is  the  literature  recording  the  intellectual, 
moral  and  spiritual  development  of  a  race 

26 


that  gave  itself  to  follow  after  righteousness 
as  the  Greek  nation  gave  itself  to  beauty,  as 
the  American  nation  gives  itself  to  industry  and 
commerce.  When  our  young  people  wish  to 
study  art  we  place  before  them  the  Greek  ideals 
of  beauty.  When  our  young  men  wish  to 
learn  war  we  place  in  their  hands  the  literature 
of  the  war-like  nations.  When  we  wish  to 
know  the  best  that  man  has  discovered  in  re- 
ligious experience  or  that  God  has  revealed 
to  man  we  go  to  the  literature  of  the  Hebrew 
nation,  the  nation  that  for  many  centuries  de- 
voted itself  to  the  work  of  developing  the  re- 
ligious consciousness. 

Not  that  all  parts  of  this  literature  are  of 
equal  value.  This  is  where  our  fathers  made 
the  fatal  mistake.  The  misconception  that  it 
was  one  book,  all  parts  of  which  were  equally 
valuable  as  a  guide  to  faith  and  conduct,  gave 
plausibility  to  the  violent  assaults  upon  the 
morality  of  the  Bible. 

The  Bible  represents  the  evolution  of  the 
moral  perception  and  understanding  of  this 
remarkable  nation. 

There  is  infinite  distance  between  Jael  driv- 
ing the  nail  of  base  treachery  through  the  fore- 
head of  Sisera  and  the  exhortation  "Love  your 
enemies*' ;  or  between  Joshua  slaying  young 
and  old,  women  and  children  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord  and  "Father,  forgive  them";  or  be- 

27 


tween  the  cursing  Psalms  and  Paul's  great  hymn 
of  love. 

The  Bible  must  be  read  with  intelligence  and 
discrimination.  It  is  poor  business  to  read 
the  Bible  in  a  hit  or  miss,  haphazard  way  or  to 
try  the  doubtful  experiment  of  reading  the 
Bible  through  by  reading  a  chapter  a  day. 

The  average  man  is  content  to  let  the  school- 
men have  a  monopoly  of  the  debate  concern- 
ing theology,  and  let  them  do  the  best  or  the 
worst  they  can  with  the  doctrinal  problems  of 
the  depravity  of  man,  the  subtle  distinctions 
of  the  trinity,  and  the  tremendous  doctrines 
of  eschatology. 

He  is  also  willing  to  leave  to  the  higher 
critics  the  task  of  determining  authorships  and 
dates,  and  settling  other  disputes  of  a  purely 
literary  nature. 

He  skips,  as  unprofitable  reading,  the  gene- 
alogies, the  imprecatory  Psalms,  the  bloody  and 
sickening  exploits  of  half-barbarous  generals, 
the  elaborate  ceremonies  of  the  Levitical  rit- 
ual, and  most  of  the  prophecies;  and  turns  to 
the  great,  direct,  simple  spiritual  scriptures, 
such  as  certain  of  the  Psalms,  passages  from 
the  prophets,  the  sermon  on  the  mount  and 
other  records  of  the  words  and  life  of  Jesus, 
and  the  inspired  writings  of  Paul  and  the  other 
apostles;  and  therein  finds  moral  stimulus  and 
spiritual  inspiration. 

28 


The  reading  of  the  Bible,  in  this  way,  brings 
wisdom  and  understanding.  This  literature, 
articulating  the  yearnings  of  devout  souls  and 
expressing  the  illumined  hours  of  seers  and 
prophets,  saints  and  sages,  becomes  a  real 
revelation  of  God's  spirit  and  will.  It  quick- 
ens and  enlightens. 

Dwight  L.  Moody  once  said  that  he  knew 
the  Bible  was  inspired  because  it  inspired  him. 
And  the  modern  man  studying  the  Bible  j'n 
this  direct  and  simple  way  has  the  same  ex- 
perience. Thus  the  Bible  becomes  in  deed  and 
in  truth  the  bread  of  life. 

No  one  can  study  the  inspired  writings  in  this 
spirit  without  coming  to  understand  a  deeper 
truth. 

God  spoke  to  Moses,  Isaiah  and  Paul,  it  is 
true.  They  who  sat  spell-bound  while  the 
Master  expounded  the  spiritual  verities,  lis- 
tened to  divine  words  and  felt  the  thrill  of  a 
divine  personality.  But  God's  contact  with  and 
revelation  to  man  are  not  limited  to  the  Hebrew 
nation,  nor  to  men  and  women  who  lived 
twenty  centuries  ago.  He  speaks,  he  inspires 
today  here  and  now,  just  as  certainly  as  he 
spoke  to  David  and  John.  The  canon  of  the 
scriptures  has  never  been  closed. 

The  devout  soul  will  draw  inspiration  from 
the  sacred  pages  and  rejoice  in  the  revelations 
given  to  holy  souls  in  ages  past;  and  at  the 

29 


same  time  will  expect  and  receive  the  inter- 
ior revelation,  at  first  hand,  of  the  goodness 
and  love  of  God. 

Thus  we  reach  on  this  as  on  every  other 
subject,  the  essential  religious  truth,  that  re- 
ligion is  a  personal  matter,  an  individual  reali- 
zation, that  to  be  known  must  be  experienced. 
Religion  is  not  a  belief,  a  theory  or  a  doctrine, 
it  is  life. 

The  religious  experience  of  the  present  hour 
illumines  the  experiences  recorded  in  the  an- 
cient scriptures.  They  act  and  interact,  each 
confirming  and  vitalizing  the  other;  and  we 
learn  at  last  to  accept  inspiration  wherever 
found  in  writings  ancient  or  modern,  sacred 
or  profane,  knowing  that  whatever  inspires 
men  and  women  to  purer-thinking,  nobler-act- 
ing, comes  from  God  and  is  therefore  worthy 
of  full  acceptance. 


30 


PRAYER 

Religion  without  prayer  is  unthinkable.  We 
find  religious  worship  without  sermons,  with- 
out hymns,  without  priests,  without  sacred  writ- 
ings, but  never  a  religion  without  prayer. 

There  is  a  prevalent  belief  that  modern 
science  has  made  prayer  absurd.  Science,  hav- 
ing demonstrated  the  universal  reign  of  law, 
is  therefore  supposed  to  have  demonstrated  the 
futility  of  prayer. 

The  trouble  is  not  with  science  or  with  true 
prayer,  but  with  our  petty,  selfish,  narrow  ideas 
of  prayer. 

To  many  of  us  prayer  is  simply  asking  God 
for  things,  a  cataloging  of  wants  and  needs,  a 
request  to  be  relieved  of  duties  and  responsibili- 
ties, an  attempt  to  evade  the  just  consequences 
of  our  follies  and  sins,  or  an  effort  to  obtain  by 
flattery  special  divine  concessions.  Such 
prayers  are  childish  and  selfish. 

To  others,  prayer  is  a  kind  of  sacred  magic 
by  which  the  prayer  hopes  to  ward  off  danger 
and  evil.  He  is  moved  by  the  spirit  of  the 
little  urchin  who  confided  awesomely  to  his 
chum,  **I  didn't  pray  last  night.  I  ain't  go- 
ing to  pray  tonight  nor  tomorrow  night  and 

31 


if  nothing  don't  happen  I  ain't  never  goin'  to 
pray  no  more." 

Many  of  our  prayers  are  obviously  ridiculous, 
as,  when  for  instance  we  ask  the  abrogation 
of  the  eternal  laws  to  serve  a  petty  personal 
purpose.  He  was  a  wise  old  preacher  who 
stood  at  the  door  of  his  church  and  met  the 
congregation  gathered  to  pray  for  rain  with 
the  command,  "Go  home.  There  is  no  use 
praying  for  rain  today.  The  wind  is  in  the 
wrong  direction." 

Experience  proves  that  God  will  not  do  for 
us  what  we  ought  to  do  for  ourselves.  If  you 
want  the  harvest,  you  must  sow  the  seed.  If 
you  want  bodily  vigor,  you  must  obey  the  laws 
of  health.  If  you  want  knowledge  and  wisdom, 
you  must  sit  at  the  feet  of  the  teacher  and 
learn.  If  you  want  the  Isthmus  of  Panama 
pierced,  you  must  dig  the  canal.  If  you  want 
yellow  fever  banished,  you  must  seek  and  find 
its  cause  and  then  clean  the  swamps  of  the  mos- 
quito. God  never  caters  to  the  lazy  man. 

Experience  proves  that  prayer  cannot  be 
used  as  a  cheap  and  easy  way  of  evading  the 
results  of  wrong  doing.  "Whatsoever  a  man 
soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap."  This  law  is 
written  deep  in  the  being  of  man. 

"The  moving  finger  writes  and  having  writ 
Moves  on,  nor  all  thy  piety  nor  wit 

Shall  lure  it  back  to  cancel  half  a  line, 
Nor  all  thy  tears  wash  out  a  word  of  it." 

32 


There  is  a  prayer  possible  that  is  at  once  ra- 
tional, scientific  and  deeply  religious. 

Prayer,  rightly  understood,  is  the  earnest  de- 
sire of  the  soul  to  serve  goodness,  to  live  in  ac- 
cordance with  divine  law,  and  worthily  to  ful- 
fill the  mission  of  the  individual  life.  It  is  an 
effort  "to  contemplate  the  facts  of  life  from  the 
highest  point  of  view,"  "to  see  the  thing  as  it 
stands  in  God,"  and  having  seen  the  highest 
and  noblest,  willingly  and  gladly  to  bring  all 
the  aims  and  impulses  of  the  life  into  harmony 
with  it. 

Prayer  is  meditation.  "Let  us  be  silent, — so 
we  may  hear  the  whisper  of  the  gods,"  exhorted 
Emerson.  Our  new  thought  friends  call  it 
"entering  the  silence."  Our  orthodox  friends 
call  it  "secret  prayer."  It  is  the  spirit  of  Samuel 
saying,  "Speak,  Lord,  for  thy  servant  heareth." 
Clearing  from  the  mind  the  confusion  and  per- 
plexities of  the  day  we  give  our  thoughts  to 
dwell  on  the  best,  the  purest,  the  most  exalted 
things  we  know.  We  throw  open  our  souls  to 
receive  good  thoughts,  good  impulses,  good 
visions.  In  response  to  our  invitation  they  come 
crowding  in. 

Aspiration  naturally  follows.  Freed  from 
selfish  desires  and  contemplating  life's  highest 
good,  the  soul  eagerly  seeks  to  possess  not 
some  good  but  all  good,  and  will  be  satisfied 
with  nothing  less. 

33 


From  the  high  vantage  point  we  look  upon 
the  facts,  the  problems,  the  duties  of  our  every- 
day life,  and  lo  the  way  that  seemed  so  devious 
and  dark  is  flooded  with  light;  the  problem  that 
baffled  our  keenest  thought  presents  within  it- 
self its  own  solution;  the  hard  experience  that 
embittered  us  discloses  a  deep  significance  and 
beauty  we  had  not  known;  the  responsibility 
that  crushed  us  to  the  earth  becomes  lightened. 
We  are  enabled  to  "take  the  separate  look"  and 
if  necessary  gaze  serene  upon  "our  own  cruci- 
fixion and  bloody  crowning."  In  the  desire  to 
know  good  and  good  alone,  life  as  a  whole 
takes  on  a  new  and  splendid  meaning. 

We  develop  an  inner  sense  which  is  insight, 
perception,  wisdom.  Life  reveals  itself  at  all 
points  as  reasonable,  purposeful,  loving;  not 
broken  and  separated  but  whole  and  orderly. 
We  are  permitted  to  view  the  right  side  of  the 
tapestry  we  are  weaving  and  although  to  our 
outward  eyes  the  web  is  tangled  and  the  design 
is  botched,  the  inner  sight  perceives  the  perfect 
work  in  process  of  fulfillment. 

Knowing  that  a  divine  destiny  is  being 
wrought  out  in  our  life  we  learn  the  lesson  of 
self-surrender  that  we  may  attain  to  Self-reali- 
zation. Perceiving  God's  will  for  us,  we  joy- 
fully bring  our  plans  and  purposes  into 
harmony. 

"Our  wills  are  ours,  we  know  not  how, 

Our  will  are  ours,  to  make  them  thine." 

34 


Soon  we  offer  the  prayer  of  consecration, 
"not  my  will  but  thine  be  done." 

We  are  not  far  from  the  sublime  revelation 
now.  Communion  with  God  is  no  longer  an 
empty  phrase.  It  is  a  vital  experience.  As  in 
all  high  experiences  words  fail  to  describe  and 
this  experience  must  be  lived  to  be  known. 
Fellowship  with  God,  loving  companionship 
with  the  Father,  becomes  a  real,  a  hourly  ex- 
perience. 

"Speak  to  him,  thou,  for  he  hears, 
And  spirit  with  spirit  may  meet, 
Closer  is  he  than  breathing, 
Nearer  than  hands  and  feet.'* 

Prayer  of  this  kind  brings  us  into  harmony 
with  the  eternal  laws,  and  puts  us  into  the  cen- 
ter of  the  irresistible  torrent  of  creative  power, 
makes  us  know  that  throughout  the  whole,  pal- 
pitating universe  there  is  nothing  but  goodness, 
life  and  love. 

Life  becomes  illumined.  The  work  properly 
ours  comes  to  our  hand  and  the  strength  to  do 
it.  The  way  we  should  tread  shines  before  us 
like  a  pathway  of  light.  Where  before  we 
groped  and  stumbled  we  now  stride  forward  in 
the  assurance  of  a  great  understanding.  We 
become  co-workers  with  God  and  in  the  work 
of  our  hands  do  we  offer  our  sincerest  worship, 
and  our  truest  prayer. 


35 


JESUS  CHRIST 

Say  what  you  will,  believe  what  you  will 
about  Jesus  of  Nazareth, — hail  him  God  incar- 
nate, acknowledge  him  the  ideal  man  or  recog- 
nize him  as  a  great  teacher, — you  must  admit 
that  he  is  the  most  remarkable,  the  most  fasci- 
nating, the  most  significant  figure  in  history. 
The  song  of  the  angels  over  his  manger-cradle 
ushered  in  a  new  era.  The  tides  of  history 
sweep  around  that  lonely  cross  on  Calvary,  and 
the  glory  shining  from  that  spotless  life  floods 
all  succeeding  ages  with  light  whose  increasing 
splendor  gives  assurance  of  that  long  looked  for 
day  when  hope  and  peace  and  love  shall  fill 
the  earth  with  beauty  and  with  joy. 

The  pomp  and  circumstance  of  imperial 
rulers  are  tawdry  compared  with  the  mystic 
diadem  of  triumphant  manhood  that  crowns  his 
brow.  Each  succeeding  generation  brings  the 
tribute  of  its  affection  and  loving  hands  en- 
twine his  cross  with  fadeless  lilies. 

I  will  admit  I  am  not  greatly  interested  in 
the  theological  Christ,  the  Christ  of  the  creeds, 
the  Christ  of  involved  and  bewildering  meta- 
physics, the  Christ  of  speculation,  the  Christ  of 
miracles. 

36 


I  love  to  sit  at  his  feet  as  a  teacher.  It  is 
true  the  cardinal  principles  of  his  teachings  were 
age-old  even  when  he  uttered  his  golden  words, 
but  he  caught  up  the  popular  religious  ideas 
of  his  time  and  gave  them  a  new,  a  spiritual 
meaning.  The  Fatherhood  of  God,  the  broth- 
erhood of  man,  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  the 
divinity  of  the  human  soul,  translated  by  his 
tongue,  transmuted  in  the  greatness  and  glory 
of  his  sublime  personality,  took  on  a  significance 
they  never  had  before. 

His  moral  precepts  are  universal  and  com- 
mon to  all  religions,  but  his  ethics  was  new.  The 
ancient  teachers  based  their  morality  on  au- 
thority, duty,  self-interest,  patriotism.  Jesus 
based  his  on  love.  Whenever  cynic  or  earnest 
seeker  questioned  him  concerning  the  seat  of 
moral  authority  he  always  answered  "thou  shalt 
love."  Judged  by  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  the 
spirit,  the  morality,  the  doctrines,  the  gospel  of 
Christianity  are  all  summed  up  in  the  one  word 
"love." 

I  delight  to  think  of  him  as  a  man  among 
men.  So  much  has  been  said  about  the  unique 
deity  of  Jesus  that  his  humanity  has  been  ob- 
scured. Yet  it  is  apparent  that  if  he  was 
divine  in  a  unique  sense,  we  could  know  noth- 
ing of  that  part  of  his  nature.  We  can  know 
only  that  part  that  we  hold  in  common.  I 
stand  abashed  before  his  resplendent  manhood, 

37 


ashamed  of  my  own  littleness.  Yet  I  rejoice  as 
I  behold  him,  knowing  that  the  divinity  that 
made  his  life  glorious  and  triumphant  resides 
in  me  also.  I  believe  most  heartily  in  the  di- 
vinity of  Jesus. 

I  believe  in  the  idealized  Christ.  By  uni- 
versal consent,  all  the  ideals  and  aspirations 
of  our  occidental  world  cluster  around  his 
name.  In  view  of  this  fact  the  mere  historicity 
of  Jesus  is  of  minor  importance.  Even  though 
future  investigations  might  throw  doubt  upon 
certain  recorded  incidents  of  his  life,  yes,  even 
though  the  whole  story  of  Jesus  should  be 
proven  a  myth,  the  ideal  of  the  Christ  as  held 
by  devout  souls  of  every  creed  would  remain. 
And  that  ideal .  would  stimulate  to  splendid 
moral  endeavor  and  spiritual  achievement. 

Jesus  is  the  most  potent  spiritual  force  in  the 
world  today  because  he  was  the  world's  great- 
est lover.  This  was  the  secret  of  his  mighty 
power  over  men  when  he  walked  the  earth; 
and  accounts  for  his  command  over  the  hearts 
of  men  today.  Herein  he  differed  from  other 
great  teachers.  They  gave  precepts  and  phil- 
osophy. He  gave  a  life.  They  said  "Be 
good"  ;  he  showed  in  himself  that  goodness  was 
defined  only  in  terms  of  love.  He  did  not 
merely  say  "love,"  he  demonstrated  the  power 
of  the  love  life. 

It  is  most  regrettable  that  the  meaning  of  the 
38 


life  and  work  of  Jesus  should  have  been  so  ob- 
scured by  theologians  and  preachers.  The 
elaborate  schemes  of  salvation,  the  involved 
and  confusing  doctrines  of  the  atonement,  have 
hopelessly  bewildered  the  lay  mind.  Yet  all 
the  sects  agree  in  affirming  the  fundamental 
principle  that  he  came  to  reveal  the  heart  of 
God,  that  by  his  teachings,  his  life,  his  death 
and  resurrection  he  demonstrated  that  God  is 
love,  and  he  became  the  savior  of  the  world 
because  he  loved.  Herein  we  can  all  agree. 
Why  wrangle  about  the  metaphysics  of  the  sub- 
ject, when  we  all  agree  upon  the  real  heart  of 
the  matter? 

The  church  has  spent  too  much  time  debat- 
ing about  the  person,  the  work,  the  nature  of 
Jesus.  Its  gaze  has  been  riveted  on  Palestine 
and  the  events  that  there  took  place.  There  is 
a  great  truth  that  by  comparison  makes  all  spec- 
ulation look  childish.  It  is  the  fulfillment  of 
the  promise  "Lo  I  am  with  you  alway." 

Christ  is  more  certainly  present  today  than 
he  ever  was  in  ancient  Judea.  He  moves 
among  men.  He  throbs  in  the  hearts  of  men, 
in  the  heart  of  every  man.  To  become  con- 
scious of  this  fact  is  to  live,  spiritually.  This 
was  the  text  of  every  sermon  Paul  preached. 
"I  live,  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me." 
"For  me  to  live  is  Christ."  This  is  foolishness 
to  the  worldly-minded.  To  the  awakened  and 
illumined  soul  Christ  is  a  real,  a  living  presence. 

39 


This  experience  is  not  a  dreamy  mysticism. 
It  is  intensely  practical.  It  dominates  the  life. 
It  is  useless  to  sing  songs  about  Jesus  unless  we 
follow  him.  It  is  useless  to  adore  him  unless 
we  emulate  him.  It  is  useless  to  bear  his  name 
unless  we  partake  of  his  spirit.  It  is  useless  to 
worship  Jesus  unless  the  sense  of  our  own  di- 
vinity is  thereby  strengthened.  It  is  useless  to 
believe  that  God  was  in  Jesus  unless  we  feel 
God  within  ourselves.  It  is  useless  to  profess 
belief  in  the  resurrection  unless  Christ  be  risen 
in  us. 

He  is  a  Christian  who  in  earnestness  seeks  to 
manifest  the  Christ-spirit  of  trust  and  love,  who 
lets  his  life  flow  out  in  sympathy  and  service, 
who  gives  himself  to  realize  his  own  divinity 
and  comes  at  length  to  know  the  blessedness 
of  the  experience,  known  by  Jesus  and  prom- 
ised to  his  disciples,  "I  and  my  Father  are  one.** 


40 


HELL  AND  HEAVEN 

I  believe  in  hell. 

Of  course,  I  do  not  believe  in  the  old  fash- 
ioned hell  of  fire  and  brimstone.  The  best 
thought  of  the  day  has  thrown  aside  the  belief 
in  an  eternity  of  torture  and  agony. 

The  doctrine  of  eternal  pain  is  inconsistent 
with  any  belief  in  the  justice,  mercy,  goodness 
or  wisdom  of  God.  An  eternity  of  agony  is 
too  severe  a  punishment  for  even  a  life  time 
of  sin,  when  the  frailty,  the  ignorance,  the  in- 
nate folly  of  man  are  remembered.  How  can 
we  reconcile  the  goodness  of  God  with  a 
theology  that  holds  that  man  is  born  cursed 
with  the  sin  of  Adam,  predisposed  to  evil, 
naturally  depraved,  and  yet  is  damned  to  un- 
ending misery  because  thus  handicapped  he 
does  not  heed  the  exhortation  of  an  evangelist 
and  become  a  righteous  man?  What  wisdom 
can  there  be  in  the  creation  of  unnumbered 
millions  of  men  and  women,  when,  according 
to  the  popular  theology,  the  vast  majority  of 
them  must  stumble  and  grope  through  life  to 
fall  at  last  into  the  eternal  flames?  The  whole 
doctrine  would  be  grotesque,  were  it  not  shock- 
ing. Thomas  Paine  spoke  a  worthy  sentiment 

41 


when  he  said,  "Any  system  of  religion  that 
shocks  the  mind  of  a  child  cannot  be  a  true 
system.'* 

We  know  that  the  threat  of  hell  fire  does  not 
serve  to  coerce  people  to  be  good.  We  have 
learned  that  morality  born  of  fear  is  of  doubt- 
ful quality;  consequently  church-going  and  de- 
votion are  no  longer  mere  premiums  on  post- 
mortem fire  insurance. 

I  cannot  believe  that  a  wise  and  loving 
creator  will  allow  one  of  his  children  to  be  lost 
in  the  eternal  dark.  His  children  may  wander 
far  from  him  in  devious  paths  of  sin  and  per- 
versity, but  through  many  lives  his  love  will 
follow  them,  yearning  and  agonizing  and  will 
not  cease  until  the  last  sin-sick,  weary  child 
staggers  back  to  the  Father's  heart,  to  be  en- 
folded in  the  Father's  love. 

That  may  be  rank  heresy,  but  I  shall  cling 
tenaciously  to  that  belief  and  shall  appeal  from 
dogma  and  priest  to  Jesus  who  revealed  the 
love  of  the  Father  in  those  two  marvelous  para- 
bles of  the  ninety  and  nine  and  the  prodigal 
son. 

Yet  I  believe  in  hells,  personal  and  social. 

In  our  folly  and  sin  we  are  making  hells  for 
ourselves.  The  hell  that  burns  in  the  bosom, 
created  by  an  outraged  conscience  and  fanned 
by  perversity,  is  more  terrible  than  any  fanciful 
theological  hell.  Dimmesdale  at  the  foot  of 

42 


the  gallows,  Lady  Macbeth  washing  the  blood 
from  her  hand,  Tito,  terror-stricken,  looking 
into  the  face  of  the  benefactor  he  had  basely 
betrayed,  suffered  agonies  that  make  the 
theological  hells  look  childish. 

Old  Omar  had  it  right  when  he  declared: 

*'I  sent  my  soul  through,  the  invisible, 
One  letter  of  that  after-life  to  spell 

•  And  by-and-by  my  soul  returned  to  me 
And   answered,    'I   myself  am   heaven   and 
hell/  f 

We  are  making  social  hells  also.  We  do 
not  need  to  search  religious  literature  to  find 
descriptions  of  hell.  What  are  war,  sweat- 
shops, child  labor  conditions,  prisons,  red  light 
districts,  the  white  plague  but  hells,  terrible 
and  awful?  God  did  not  make  them.  They 
were  made  and  are  maintained  by  human  greed, 
hate  and  folly. 

And  how  shall  we  escape  these  hells,  per- 
sonal and  social?  There  is  but  one  answer, 
quit  making  them. 

But  I  would  rather  talk  about  heaven. 

Is  there  a  distant  magical  city  of  golden 
streets,  where  choiring  angels  make  eternal 
music?  I  don't  know,  and  really  I  am  not 
very  much  interested.  It  is  not  a  very  attrac- 
tive heaven  to  most  people.  Many  of  us  are 
like  the  good  man  who  had  been  urged  by  a 
friend  to  give  his  opinion  about  the  possibility 

43 


of  life  after  death,  and  replied,  petulantly,  "Of 
course,  if  you  press  me,  I  believe  we  shall  all 
enter  into  eternal  bliss,  but  I  really  wish  you 
wouldn't  talk  about  such  disagreeable  sub- 
jects." 

I  do  know  that  we  do  not  have  to  die  to  go 
to  heaven,  if  by  heaven  you  mean  a  condition 
of  peace,  serenity  and  spiritual  realization.  I 
object  to  postponing  my  heaven.  Heaven  be- 
yond the  grave  is  a  rather  uncertain  proposi- 
tion. Heaven  realized  now  is  real  and  sub- 
stantial. 

Just  as  by  folly  and  sin  we  create  our  own 
hells,  so  by  love  and  sympathy  we  create  our 
own  heavens  and  maintain  them  by  purity  and 
devotion. 

This  inner  realization  has  a  subtle  and  yet 
powerful  effect  upon  our  outer  circumstances, 
until  the  ugliest  of  environments  may  be  made 
beautiful.  Good  old  Father  Taylor  had  the 
right  idea.  When  he  was  chided  for  his  friend- 
ship with  the  pure-spirited  Emerson  and  re- 
minded that  Emerson,  for  his  heresies,  would 
go  to  hell,  replied,  "that  may  be,  but  if  Waldo 
Emerson  goes  to  hell,  there  will  be  an  instant 
change  in  the  climate  and  immigration  will  soon 
set  in  that  way.'* 

What  makes  heaven?  Love?  Adoration 
of  the  highest,  as  illustrated  by  "the  glory 
song?"  Reward  for  good  deeds?  Opportuni- 

44 


ties  for  nobler  service?  Opportunities  of  self- 
development  and  self-expression?  Realization 
of  the  presence  of  God? 

Why,  you  can  have  all  that  now! 

A  child  when  asked,  "where  is  heaven?" 
answered,  "Heaven  is  where  God  is."  And 
that  answer  was  correct. 

God  is  as  certainly  present  here  and  now 
as  he  ever  will  be  in  any  distant  future  or  in  any 
place  or  condition.  Know  this  as  a  vital  ex- 
perience and  you  have  attained  heaven. 

"Alone,  O  Love  Ineffable, 
Thy  saving  name  is  given, 

To  turn  aside  from  thee  is  hell, 
To  walk  with  thee  is  heaven." 


45 


IMMORTALITY 

Ever  since  the  naked  savage  knelt  in  anguish 
over  the  lifeless  body  of  his  mate  and  gazed 
into  the  mystery  of  death,  the  question  of  a 
future  life  has  been  of  transcendent  interest  to 
man,  and  it  will  continue  to  engage  his  pro- 
foundest  thought  and  most  insistent  investiga- 
tion until  the  veil  has  been  lifted  and  life  be- 
yond death  is  revealed  to  human  knowledge. 

We  may  gain  an  ever-increasing  control  over 
nature,  may  extend  man's  power  beyond  his 
wildest  dreams,  may  make  mundane  life  beau- 
tiful and  luxurious,  but  as  long  as  the  problem 
of  death  remains  unsolved,  man  will  feel  him- 
self poor  and  weak. 

The  human  heart  demands  immortality  and 
will  be  satisfied  with  nothing  less.  Man  re- 
fuses to  believe  that  the  powers  and  possibili- 
ties of  his  life  and  soul  are  narrowed  to  the 
petty  limits  of  birth  and  death.  In  his  best 
moments  he  feels  within  him  something  that  de- 
clares itself  superior  to  material  limitations,  un- 
circumscribed  by  time  and  space,  holding  alle- 
giance to  truth  greater  than  that  revealed  by 
sense  and  logic,  that  laughs  at  dissolution  and 
knows  itself  one  with  eternity. 
46 


He  clings  tenaciously  to  his  belief  in  the 
veracity  of  such  experiences  despite  all  argu- 
ment and  ridicule.  So  he  smothers  with  living 
flowers  the  caskets  of  his  sacred  dead,  carves 
words  of  hope  upon  the  tombstone,  and  in  the 
night  of  black  bereavement  lifts  his  tear- 
dimmed  eyes  to  see  the  shining  of  the  stars. 

The  best  and  purest  souls  the  race  has  known 
have  proclaimed  the  doctrine  of  immortality. 
Krishna,  Socrates,  Jesus,  Zoroaster,  Victor 
Hugo,  Emerson,  all  bear  witness  to  this  truth, 
confirming  our  own  intuitions. 

We  believe  in  the  conservation  of  energy 
and  the  indestructibility  of  matter,  why  not  also, 
the  conservation  of  consciousness  and  the  im- 
mutability of  the  human  spirit? 

Yet  I  have  no  desire  to  present  an  argument 
to  prove  future  existence.  I  fear  that  after 
all  the  logic  and  all  the  reason  we  have  only 
proven  the  possibility  of  life  beyond  death,  only 
presented  intimations  of  immortality. 

The  belief  in  immortal  life  must  rest  upon 
a  deeper  foundation. 

We  have  invested  death  with  undue  import- 
ance. We  have  made  the  fear  of  death  the 
central  thought  in  our  religion,  and  preparation 
for  death  has  been  made  the  main  purpose  of 
life.  We  have  clothed  death  with  mystery  and 
terror  and  the  shadows  of  the  grave  we  have 
peopled  with  spectres  of  fear. 

47 


The  scientist  looking  at  death  impersonally 
and  dispassionately  finds  it  natural  and  inevi- 
table and  therefore  as  reasonable  and  purpose- 
ful as  birth.  In  fact,  he  sees  it  as  one  of  the 
beautiful  processes  of  ever  renewing  life.  The 
modern  man  must  take  this  scientific  truth, 
spiritualize  it  and  make  it  part  of  his  thought 
and  life. 

The  trouble  is  that  men  usually  cannot  think 
of  themselves  as  anything  but  body;  as  a  con- 
sequence when  the  body  dies  they  say,  "he  is 
dead."  This  is  a  grievous  error.  The  body  is 
only  a  garment  that  the  soul  wears,  and  when 
its  usefulness  is  past  it  is  thrown  aside  like 
last  year's  coat.  If  we  would  only  train  our- 
selves to  think  of  ourselves  as  immortal  spirits, 
immortality  would  soon  reveal  itself  to  us. 

What  is  immortality? 

It  is  not  mere  extension  of  existence.  It  is 
not  merely  some  life  beyond  the  grave.  It  is 
something  far  grander. 

Immortality,  as  I  understand  it,  is  the  increas- 
ing realization  of  life,  of  innate  spiritual  ca- 
pacity, of  the  deepest  self,  of  righteousness 
and  love.  It  is  a  man's  identification  of  him- 
self with  the  cosmic  life;  the  knowledge  that 
essentially  he  is  one  with  the  eternal  goodness 
and  love.  It  is  the  realization,  conscious,  vital, 
that  he  is  spirit,  and  cannot  be  affected  by  the 
vicissitudes  of  time  or  touched  by  death.  It 
is  to  know  that: 

48 


"Never  the  spirit  was  born,  the  spirit  shall  cease 

to  be  never, 
Never  was  time  it  was  not,  end  and  beginning 

are  dreams, 
Birthless    and    deathless    and    changeless    re- 

maineth  the  spirit  forever, 
Death  hath  not  touched  it  at  all,  dead  though 

the  house  of  it  seems." 

He  who  attains  this  consciousness  is  blest  in 
a  threefold  way. 

When  death  visits  the  circle  of  his  loved 
ones  he  does  not  mourn  with  heart-breaking 
bereavement.  Over  the  mists  of  his  tears  is 
thrown  the  rainbow  of  hope.  The  darkness 
of  the  hour  is  lightened  with  the  knowledge 
that  the  spirit  of  the  loved  one  has  gone  on 
from  glory  unto  glory  toward  the  fulness  of 
divine  and  radiant  life.  Death  is  but  the 
sombre  gateway  through  which  the  loved  one 
has  passed  to  the  greater  life  beyond. 

Death  is  robbed  of  its  terrors.  It  is  no 
longer  an  enemy  to  be  hated  and  feared.  It  is 
recognized  as  a  messenger  from  the  Father's 
heart  bearing  a  command  to  come  up  higher. 
It  is  a  deliverer  coming  to  emancipate  the 
soul  from  the  fetters  of  the  flesh.  He  greets 
death  with  a  song  of  exultation.  He  conquers 
death  by  tearing  off  the  mask  of  mystery  and 
darkness  and  disclosing  the  face  of  love. 

He  comes  at  length  to  know  the  greater 
truth.  The  realization  of  immortality  does  not 

49 


wait  for  its  fulfillment  for  some  existence  be- 
yond the  grave  but  may  be  known  and  enjoyed 
here  and  now.  The  hero-souls  of  the  race  have 
walked  through  life  with  triumphant  step  and 
greeted  death  with  laughter  and  with  jest,  be- 
cause they  had  entered  into  this  experience  of 
truth  and  reality  even  while  subject  to  the 
limitations  of  sense.  This  consciousness  cornea 
to  the  man  who  consecrates  himself  to  live  like 
an  immortal.  Emerson  worthily  sums  up  the 
matter:  "Higher  than  the  question  of  our 
duration  is  the  question  of  our  deserving.  Im- 
mortality will  come  to  such  as  are  ready  for  it, 
and  he  who  would  be  a  great  soul  in  the  future 
must  be  a  great  soul  now." 


50 


THE  DEVIL 

There  is  only  one  devil  in  the  universe  and 
that  is  fear.  /'  Abolish  fear  from  the  human 
heart  and  a  belief  in  the  devil  dies. 

The  first  religion  was  devil  worship  and  the 
savage  offered  his  gifts  to  avert  the  wrath  of 
the  demons.  To  him  every  tree  hid  an  enemy 
and  every  shadow  concealed  a  foe.  He  lived 
in  an  atmosphere  of  fear  and  was  a  firm  be- 
liever in  devils. 

Fear  has  been  the  main  stock  in  trade  of 
religious  charlatans  in  all  ages.  The  voodoo 
man  with  his  black  magic,  the  medicine  man 
with  his  tom-tom,  the  pagan  priest  with  his  in- 
cantations and  oracles,  the  Christian  minister 
with  his  threat  of  hell  and  the  devil,  are  all 
directing  their  appeal  to  the  cowardly  fear  in 
the  hearts  of  their  credulous  and  superstitious 
followers. 

The  belief  in  the  existence  of  a  principle  of 
evil,  either  personified  or  otherwise,  disappears 
before  the  advance  of  knowledge.  Our  fathers 
believed  that  old  women  could  enter  into  a 
compact  with  Satan  and  so  they  drowned  the 
witches.  But  we  laugh  at  their  delusion.  They 
cowered  before  the  lightning  as  a  malevolent 

&»  *~  ^rMA   ^^ 


energy,  but  we  harness  it  and  make  it  turn 
the  wheels  of  our  factories  and  light  our 
streets.  A  few  years  ago  religious  processions 
passed  through  the  streets  of  New  Orleans  and 
Havana  in  an  effort  to  exorcise  the  yellow  fever 
devil,  but  we  simply  killed  off  the  mosquito 
that  carried  the  yellow  fever  germ  and  that  put 
that  particular  kind  of  devil  out  of  business. 

Modern  science  has  proven  that  there  is 
no  malignant  power,  energy  or  agency  in  the 
universe.  Every  force  has  a  definite  and 
worthy  work  to  perform.  Every  atom  contri- 
butes its  part  to  the  great  cosmic  scheme. 
Science  has  stolen  the  mystery  from  nature  and 
revealed  the  workings  of  beautiful,  living  laws. 
It  has  robbed  the  tempest  of  its  terrors  and  we 
stand  awed  at  the  passing  of  omnipotence. 
Science  has  driven  the  hobgoblins  from  hill- 
side and  meadow  and  clothed  all  nature  with 
beauty  and  with  joy.  Science  has  taken  the 
forces  that  to  the  imaginations  of  our  fathers 
were  the  messengers  of  wrath  and  malevolence 
and  has  made  them  docile  servants  of  man. 
Science  has  demonstrated  that  every  atom  is 
a  point  of  intelligence  and  is  instinct  with 
divinity. 

There  is  no  room  in  the  universe  for  a  devil, 
save  in  the  superstitious  fears  of  man. 

Philosophy  confirms  the  findings  of  science 
with  the  inquiry,  "If  God  be  all  there  is  and 

52 


there  is  naught  beside  him,  where  can  there 
be  found  a  devil?" 

Supposing  for  the  sake  of  argument  we  ad- 
mit that  there  is  a  devil,  a  personified  principle 
of  evil;  how  much  harm  can  he  do  you?  Go, 
read  once  more  the  dramatic  story  of  Job, 
and  you  shall  find  that  he  cannot  touch  the 
real  You  unless  you  give  consent.  He  may  take 
your  health,  but  he  cannot  make  you  blas- 
pheme. He  may  take  your  possessions,  but 
he  cannot  rob  you  of  your  integrity,  your  good 
conscience.  He  may  take  your  reputation,  but 
he  cannot  injure  your  character.  He  may  frus- 
trate your  plans,  but  he  cannot  disturb  the 
serenity  of  your  soul.  He  may  kill  your  body, 
but  he  cannot  touch  your  immortal  soul.  Give 
him  all  the  power  popularly  attributed  to  him 
and  yet  he  cannot  do  you  any  real  harm.  Then 
why  fear  him?  Free  yourself  from  fear  and 
you  shall  find  that  he  is  but  the  figment  of  your 
imagination. 

The  enlightened  soul  knows  that  in  life,  in 
death,  throughout  the  universe,  there  is  abso- 
lutely nothing  to  fear;  and  that  knowledge,  con- 
firmed by  everyday  experience,  puts  an  end 
to  a  belief  in  the  devil. 


53 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  EVIL. 

Properly  speaking  there  is  no  problem  of 
evil;  because  there  is  no  evil. 

Nature  reveals  no  miracle,  no  break,  no 
vacuum,  no  atom  that  is  not  governed  by  di- 
vine law.  The  universal  purpose  enfolds 
every  living  thing.  In  some  mysterious  but  cer- 
tain way  the  multitudinous  universe  throbs  in 
response  to  a  cosmic  life  that  discloses  itself  at 
all  points,  perfect,  methodical,  purposeful, 
beneficient.  In  the  world  of  nature  there  may 
be  pain,  there  may  be  strife,  there  may  be 
death,  but  the  scientist  discovers  no  evil. 

In  human  life  the  same  is  true.  There  are 
pain,  strife  and  death,  and  there  are  folly  and 
sin,  but  there  is  nothing  essentially  evil. 

Human  life  no  less  than  the  world  of  nature 
is  the  scene  of  the  operation  of  divine  processes. 
There  is  no  room  for  chance  or  caprice.  The 
events  of  your  life  are  as  divinely  ordered  as 
the  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  The 
difference  is  this,  they  being  inert  masses  are 
helpless  under  the  compulsion  of  the  mighty 
cosmic  forces,  while  you  being  intelligent  may 
recognize  the  workings  of  the  cosmic  forces  in 
your  life,  may  understand  them  and  learn  their 

54 


purpose,  and  then  willingly  and  joyfully  may 
co-operate  with  them  in  the  fulfillment  of  your 
divine  destiny. 

The  whole  problem  resolves  itself  into  the 
question,  *'Is  this  a  universe  or  a  di-verse?"  If 
this  be  a  di-verse,  a  battleground  where  titanic 
forces  strive,  with  the  final  result  in  doubt,  noth- 
ing matters.  Man  is  simply  the  helpless  puppet 
tossed  hither  and  thither  by  influences  over 
which  he  has  no  control,  to  be  crushed  finally. 
If  it  be  a  universe,  an  expression  of  Eternal 
Goodness, — and  this  is  the  only  basis  for  a 
sane  and  workable  philosophy — evil  as  an  en- 
tity, an  essentially  bad  force  or  agency  is  an 
absurdity.  Job's  question,  propounded  millen- 
iums  ago,  remains  unanswered.  "If  it  be  not 
he,  who,  then  is  it?"  (Job  9:24  R.  V.)  The 
prophet  had  the  courage  of  his  logic  when  he 
declared,  *'I  am  the  Lord  and  there  is  none  else. 
I  form  the  light  and  create  darkness:  I  make 
peace  and  I  create  evil."  (Isaiah  45:7). 

Can  Eternal  Goodness  create  anything  essen- 
tially evil? 

What,  then,  are  these  influences,  forces, 
agencies,  events  and  experiences  that  by  popu- 
lar consent  we  call  evil?  How  shall  we  escape 
from  them? 

There  is  only  one  way  of  escape  and  that  is 
by  a  recognition  of  the  true  nature  of  these  so- 
called  evil  things.  Our  little  ones  are  frightened 

55 


by  the  jack-in-the-box  until  we  explain  the 
harmless  toy.  So  with  evil. 

The  prophetic  antithesis  is  clear  and  explains 
itself.  What  darkness  is  to  light,  evil  is  to  good- 
ness. The  presence  of  light  proves  the  nothing- 
ness of  darkness.  Goodness  demonstrates  the 
nothingness  of  evil. 

Evil  is  negation,  the  absence  of  truth.  Mephis- 
topheles  is  always  "the  spirit  that  denies."  Evil 
is  darkness,  limitation,  ignorance,  delusion. 
Declare  the  truth  and  the  denying  spirit  van- 
ishes. Power  voids  limitation.  Wisdom  dissi- 
pates ignorance.  Realization,  the  coming  to 
one's  self,  awakens  from  delusion.  Evil  be- 
longs to  dream  life ;  goodness  to  the  soul  awake. 

This  is  the  meaning  of  the  Master's  com- 
mand "Resist  not  evil."  This  is  the  reason 
why  we  should  "judge  not."  This  is  the  phil- 
osophy underlying  the  exhortation  "Love  your 
enemies." 

Much  that  we  call  evil  is  one  of  three  things: 
misunderstood  facts  and  events,  misdirected 
energy  or  good  in  the  making. 

Cholera  epidemics  were  called  evil,  but  now 
that  we  understand  the  laws  of  sanitation  we 
have  no  more  plagues.  Cyclones  and  earth- 
quakes were  thought  to  be  the  visitations  of 
divine  wrath,  but  we  know  now  they  have  no 
moral  significance;  they  are  purely  natural  phe- 
nomena. An  eclipse  set  the  world  in  a  panic 

56 


but  we  now  watch  unperturbed  the  passing  of 
the  celestial  bodies.  As  we  come  to  under- 
stand that  all  natural  phenomena  are  the  result 
of  the  operation  of  natural  forces  acting  in  an 
orderly  fashion  our  superstitious  fears  vanish. 

What  we  call  sin  is  often  misdirected  energy. 
Lightning  strikes  your  house  and  sets  it  on  fire. 
Lightning  controlled  and  directed  lights  and 
heats  your  home.  In  one  case  it  is  a  bane,  in 
the  other  a  blessing.  There  is  not  a  passion 
or  an  impulse  that  is  vicious  of  itself.  Every 
vice  is  a  perverted  virtue.  Envy  is  emulation 
gone  wrong.  Bigotry  is  self-reliance  gone 
wrong.  Cowardice  is  prudence  gone  wrong. 
Sexual  perversity  is  the  sexual  instinct  gone 
wrong. 

Whether  a  thought  or  action  can  be  called 
sinful  or  not  depends  upon  the  circumstances. 
Sin  is  but  the  choice  of  the  lower  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  higher.  "It  was  my  duty  to  have 
loved  the  highest,'*  wailed  the  queen  in  the  hour 
of  her  remorse. 

What  we  call  evil  is  frequently  good  in  the 
making.  The  luscious  peach  was  originally  a 
poisonous  almcnd.  Burbank,  the  wizard, 
searches  out  the  sports  and  freaks  of  nature  and 
from  them  produces  new  flowers,  new  fruits. 
Evolution  will  make  the  good  of  today  the  evil 
of  tomorrow,  and  the  evil  experiences  of  to- 
day will  produce  the  good  of  tomorrow.  The 

57 


prodigal  son  had  to  go  down  to  the  pigstye  to 
* 'come  to  himself."  Even  the  great  Nazarene 
had  to  pass  through  the  desert  of  bitter  tempta- 
tion. From  the  pains  and  sorrows,  the  disap- 
pointments and  hard  experiences  of  our  lives 
a  master  hand  is  working  out  something  good ; 
and  the  final  good  justifies  the  process.  Think 
you  not  the  clay  suffers  under  the  hand  of  the 
potter? 

History  and  the  modern  ' 'success*  *  literature 
are  full  of  the  examples  of  men  and  women  who 
have  met  their  untoward  circumstances  and 
made  of  them  stairs  on  which  to  rise  to  glory 
and  to  power.  From  Paul  with  his  "thorn"  to 
Fanny  Crosby  and  Helen  Keller,  they  all  teach 
the  same  lesson.  Every  evil  that  afflicts  us  may 
be  enlarged  to  assist  us  heavenward. 

The  problems  of  life  are  no  more  evil  than 
are  the  problems  of  the  school  room.  We 
know  the  tasks  of  the  schoolroom  must  be  mas- 
tered if  the  mind  is  to  be  developed.  So  the 
problems  of  life  must  be  mastered  that  the  soul 
may  come  to  its  own. 

The  adversities  of  life  come  to  us  straight 
from  the  Father's  heart,  freighted  with  love. 
They  buffet  the  soul,  but  if  we  meet  them  cour- 
ageously they  develop  moral  muscle  and  spiri- 
tual strength.  Life  is  a  boxing  match  where 
every  one  must  put  on  the  gloves  and  prove 
of  what  stuff  he  is  made;  and  always  his  ad- 
versary is  God. 

58 


As  soon  as  you  realize  that  God  is  at  the 
heart  of  every  trial  or  distressing  experience 
you  will  quit  fighting  and  when  you  surrender 
you  win  the  victory.  Jacob  fought  all  night 
with  the  angel,  but  when  he  stopped  struggling 
he  arose  "a  prince  of  God.*' 

Quit  thinking  about  evil.  Quit  looking  for 
it.  Quit  making  it  in  your  own  life  by  unworthy 
thoughts  and  actions.  Quit  fighting  with  your 
evil  habits  or  limiting  circumstances.  Surren- 
der whole-heartedly  to  God,  to  goodness,  truth 
and  love.  Let  them  fill  your  heart  and  mind; 
then  you  shall  rise  into  life,  and  in  the  realiza- 
tion of  life,  abundant,  radiant,  divine,  you  shall 
come  to  see  and  know  that  the  universe,  man- 
kind, and  your  own  soul  can  know  no  evil, 
physical,  mental,  moral,  but  that  all  is  goodness, 
love  and  God. 

In  this  realization  shall  perfect  love,  truth 
and  health  be  fulfilled  in  you. 


59 


THE  CHURCH 

Looking  back  over  history  the  Christian 
church  shows  itself  in  many  aspects.  At  times 
it  shows  itself  a  mighty  ecclesiastical  system, 
in  league  with  aristocracy,  despotic,  dogmatic, 
oppressive.  Again  it  shows  itself  a  theological 
propaganda,  striving  to  establish  creeds  and 
rituals,  battling  fiercely  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  church's  authority  over  faith  and  reason. 
Again  it  shows  itself  as  an  emotional  crusade, 
and  Christendom  is  shaken  with  religious 
revivals. 

But  modern  progress  has  well-nigh  destroyed 
the  church.  The  churches  are  being  abolished, 
not  by  legislative  enactment  or  direct  attack, 
but  by  popular  neglect.  They  do  not  seem 
to  have  either  the  vitality  or  the  ability  to 
adapt  themselves  to  the  needs  of  the  new  time. 
Every  great  denomination,  excepting  the  Chris- 
tian Science  church,  in  recent  official  utter- 
ances has  complained  of  declining  member- 
ship, vacant  pulpits  and  vanishing  influence. 

Democracy  makes  an  ecclesiastical  aris- 
tocracy impossible.  Widespread  education  has 
dissipated  superstition.  Science  has  made  the 
ancient  theology  ridiculous.  Modern  psychol- 

60 


ogy  condemns  the  emotional  extravagances  of 
the  old  fashioned  revival.  The  emancipating, 
liberalizing  influences  of  modern  thought  are 
honey-combing  the  narrow  orthodoxies.  The 
world  of  today  cares  nothing  for  sectarianism, 
doctrinal  hair-splitting  or  bigotry. 

Is  the  church,  then,  doomed? 

No. 

Man  is  incurably  religious,  and  men  will  al- 
ways group  themselves  in  religious  organiza- 
tions for  worship,  self -development,  propa- 
ganda, and  mutual  service. 

Every  existing  church  is  needed  and  will  be 
needed  for  many  decades  to  come.  Tempera- 
ment, education,  mental  bent,  and  propinquity 
will  determine  very  largely  whether  a  man  is 
to  be  a  Roman  Catholic,  a  Methodist,  a  Quaker, 
or  a  "holy  roller."  Every  church  contains 
much  more  good  than  evil  or  it  could  not  exist 
at  all. 

But  the  new  church  that  shall  command  the 
future  is  being  born. 

It  is  not  a  separate  institution  with  ministers, 
ritual,  organization. 

The  church  of  the  future  is  now  developing 
within  society,  and  its  potent  influence  is  felt 
in  education,  politics,  commerce,  industry,  liter- 
ature, everywhere.  Its  members  profess  no 
common  creed,  speak  no  common  shibboleth. 
They  are  known  by  their  spirit,  not  by  their 
professions  or  badges. 

61 


They  are  known  by  their  profound  spiritual- 
ity. They  see  the  deeper  meanings  of  life. 
They  perceive  the  more  significant  tendencies 
of  modern  progress.  They  discern  the  eternal 
spirit  of  truth  and  love  working  out  a  divine 
purpose  in  human  affairs.  God  is  real  to  them 
as  principle,  goodness,  truth,  love,  and  they 
see  and  feel  him  everywhere.  They  truly  live 
in  the  presence  of  the  Most  High. 

The  members  of  this  church  acknowledge  no 
churchly  authority,  many  of  them  do  not  even 
maintain  a  formal  allegiance  to  the  ancient 
forms.  They  preach  individual  responsibility 
on  all  occasions  and  place  conscience  on  the 
seat  of  judgment  as  superior  to  traditions  and 
creeds. 

United  in  spirit  and  not  in  outward  organi- 
zation, scattered  throughout  all  existing 
churches,  they  are  wondrously  tolerant.  They 
know  that  mere  allegiance  to  a  creed  does  not 
make  a  man  good,  nor  does  a  rejection  of  all 
the  creeds  necessarily  make  a  man  bad.  They 
pierce  the  superficiality  of  custom  and  respecta- 
bility and  judge  a  man  by  his  character,  a 
church  by  its  influence,  a  movement  by  its  aim 
and  purpose.  If  thus  tested  they  ring  true,  they 
are  accepted. 

If  they  have  any  badge  or  grip  or  token  by 
wnich  they  are  known  it  is  sympathy;  that  sub- 
tle recognition  of  mutual  purpose,  mutual  de- 

62 


pendence,  mutual  relationship,  mutual  obliga- 
tion, mutual  worth  that  binds  men's  hearts  to- 
gether. 

The  most  striking  characteristic  of  these 
members  of  this  twentieth  century  church  is 
their  consecration  to  the  noble  ideals  of  social 
service.  Differing  widely  in  matters  of  doc- 
trine and  ecclesiastical  polity,  they  are  united 
in  an  earnest  desire  to  uplift  humanity,  im- 
prove social  conditions  and  make  this  old  world 
a  sweeter,  cleaner,  happier  place.  And  there 
are  some  of  us  who  are  daring  to  believe  and 
teach  that  a  humanitarian  spirit  is  of  far  greater 
importance  than  correct  theological  opinions. 

The  worship  of  the  new  church  will  not  con- 
sist of  hymn-singing  and  prayer,  but  will  be  the 
practice  of  love  in  all  life's  relationships.  Its 
creed  will  not  begin  "I  believe,"  but  "  I  love" ; 
its  exhortation  shall  be  not  "Believe  thou,"  but 
"Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all 
thy  heart,  mind,  soul  and  strength,  and  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself.** 

Many  to  whom  the  former  religious  phraseol- 
ogy is  dear  will  protest  that  because  the  new 
church  is  not  making  such  frequent  reference 
to  Jesus  that  therefore  it  is  unchristian.  But 
not  so.  It  is  more  important  to  show  loyalty  to 
the  spirit  of  the  Christ  than  to  profess  loyalty 
to  his  name.  Not  every  one  that  saith  "Lord, 
Lord,**  declared  the  Master  himself.  Even 

63 


though  the  new  church  does  not  speak  his 
name  so  frequently,  it  is  saturated  with  his 
spirit  and  animated  with  the  same  lofty  pur- 
pose that  gave  the  glory  to  his  divine  life. 

The  divisions  of  the  church  have  been  the 
sorrow  of  devout  churchmen  in  all  ages.  Church 
unity  is  a  dream  fondly  held  by  the  church  to- 
day, and  that  dream  will  be  realized  some  day. 
But  the  churches  will  never  unite  in  the  profes- 
sion of  any  creed  nor  in  submission  to  any  one 
central  organization  or  authority. 

There  is  only  one  practical  basis  for  church 
unity  and  that  is  an  earnest  effort  to  exemplify 
the  teachings  of  Christ,  to  manifest  his  spirit 
in  individual  and  social  life,  and  a  consecrated 
endeavor  to  establish  the  Kingdom  of  God 
upon  the  earth.  This  is  the  only  basis  of  com- 
mon interest,  the  only  spirit  that  shall  truly 
federate  discordant  Christendom. 

As  a  wise  man  once  said,  the  church  of  to- 
morrow "will  be  a  union  of  all  who  love  in  the 
service  of  all  who  suffer." 

Hail  the  glad  day  when  this  divine,  this 
Christlike  spirit  shall  be  regnant  in  the  hearts 
of  men. 


64 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  PINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  5O  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


JAN  £31940 

JAN  24  1940 

LD  21-100m-7,'39(402s) 

' 


1  29 


766864 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


